Chapter Six: "A Hole in One Piece"
Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Etearna, United States Air Force **Commanding Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 01 - Bridge *November 4th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Jennifer nodded. =^=Thank you, Miss Thomson, we're going to try that now. Etearna out.=^= Glancing to her Weapons Controller, she frowned. Something in her gut wrenched as she spoke. "Fire the Ancient beam." There was a loud echoing and a 'BOOM' as the weapon misfired, and became inactive. =^=Thomson, what happened?=^= Jennifer slapped her radio again for Dracar. =^=Dracar, Ancient weaponry is failing, but we've got engineers trying to fix the problems. Please stand ready.=^= A report was received back from her intelligence officer. Nodding for a moment, she flipped on the main intercom. =^=Prepare for Faster-Than-Light speed, I repeat--=^= The ship groaned as more Ha'tak shots slammed into their shields. =^=Prepare for Faster-Than-Light in thirty seconds!=^= ---- *Lieutenant Pamela Thomson, Royal Navy **Chief Engineer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Somewhere *November 7th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 =^=Thomson, what happened?=^= =^=I said the Asgard weapons were online, not the Ancient Weapons. Also I have got FTL back online but I would warn everyone as I had to reroute power from a number of systems and relays could blow after we use the hyperdrive.=^= Pamela said as she found something to hold onto as they got ready to jump into hyperspace. ---- *Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Etearna, United States Air Force **Commanding Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 01 - Bridge *November 8th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Jennifer slapped herself for mixing up 'Asgard' and 'Ancient'. However, it didn't matter, as the ship violently jerked into FTL. Taking a breath, Jennifer leaned back in her seat. "That could have been worse." She murmured. Standing to get a mocha, she was halfway across the bridge when the ship violently rocked, and they were taken out of FTL at such a quick rate that Jennifer was knocked from her feet, groaning as she hit the floor. Looking up at the visual panel, she sat the event horizon of a black hole; of which, they were slowly, but surely, descending into. Hopping onto her feet, she cursed under her breath as she jogged to her chair, slapping on the radio. =^=Thomson, I owe you for my last mistake, but we forgot about the black hole... what's the status on our equipment?=^= As she turned her radio off, Sjar turned around to look at Jennifer. "Colonel," She spoke morosely, "The remaining three Ha'tak have dropped out of FTL, as well. Here. They're circling the drain right along with us." Jennifer watched as, looking on the other side of the event horizon, the Ha'tak were firing weapons off.... which quickly got slurped down the black hole. "Dammit..." Jennifer murmured, as she looked to her weapons officer. "Work with Young and see if you can maneuver close enough to the Ha'Tak to get off some good shots..." She turned on her radio. =^=Major Kobey, how many patients are you carting in?=^= ---- *Major Jason Dracar, British Special Air Service **Executive Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 07 - Combat Intelligence Center *November 8th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Jason stood in the center of the weapons control center. "All batteries, hold your fire!" He ordered, with a slight grin, watching one of the Ha'taks slowly catch up. "All stern batteries, OPEN FIRE!" He watched the representation screen blossom with the dotted lines representing weapons fire, and the slightly bluish aura around the Ha'tak representing it's shield. After several seconds of sustained fire, the shield flickered a tiny bit, enough for a handful of rounds to penetrate deep into the shield, and knock out the Ha'taks bridge, crippling the ship, as it slowly spun towards the event horizon. With a wider grin, he tapped the intercom. =^= Colonel Etearna, we just delivered one dead Ha'tak. =^= ---- *Major Michael Kabolansjo, United States Air Force **Chief Medical Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 03 - Medical Bay *November 8th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 =^= "I have two burn victims, and two with broken bones, nothing I can't handle at the moment, but if we continue getting beating the infirmary will be overtaxed, I'm the only doctor here!"=^= he answered in the phone as he started to put I.V.'s in with blood and fluids as petty officer Daniels was applying bandages with a aluminium lining. "Wails! Prepare to get two more units of A-positive!" The orderly nodded and ran of to the cooler. Kobey moved to the second burn victim and sighed in relief that the only burned part was his lower leg and foot. "Okay lieutenant, this'll hurt.". The lieutenant nodded but Cais already has a injection with morphine ready and looked at Kobey, who nodded. "That pinch is morphine." he said to the officer who nodded and suddenly felt more relax as Wails placed a I.V. with saline solution and Kobey put in the A-positive in with i.v.'s. "Okay, put this guy in wrappers." he said as he carted the airman with a broken leg to the röntgen machine to make a shot of the leg. ---- *Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Etearna, United States Air Force **Commanding Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 01 - Bridge *November 9th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 =^=Major Kobey, I'll see if I can get you more orderlies.=^= Jennifer switched her radio channel as she opened up her OCP, quickly clicking through some lists and telling an off-duty medic to get on, along with a couple of others. =^=Major Dracar, you will have my recommendation for a promotion when we make it out here alive, for the time being, I want you to pummel those Ha'tak with everything we have. None of them are to make it out of this hole alive.=^= Jennifer switched her channel to Pamela. =^=Thomson, I want you to keep an eye on our engines and hull integrity, we're going to be circling the drain for a bit. Keep your engineers on repairing the damage.=^= More hits from the remaining two Ha'taks rammed into the poor shielding and into the hull of the ship, lights flickering repeatedly. Jennifer took a small breath, leaning back in her seat. "I want to know how much this ship can handle before we need to pull out of this hole." ---- *Major Jason Dracar, British Special Air Service **Executive Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 17 - Combat Intelligence Center *November 11th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 =^= Colonel, don't get us too close. Relativistic effects of the event horizon and all that jazz. I think we're too close as it is, because I could swear you just said you'd recommend me for a promotion. =^= Jason let go of the intercom and turned back to the representational screen, watching the batteries fire. "All starboard batteries!" Jason called out, getting the attention of the crew he needed. "Open fire on these coordinates." He pointed out the space a short distance ahead of the leading Ha'tak, watching the gunners open fire, only to see the Ha'tak ram into the rounds. "Keep firing, and launch two rockets." He'd hear a irritating blaring of a klaxon somewhere in the ship, giving warning of the silos opening. ~''Okay. Annoying.~ It became apparent a moment later why the klaxon went off as a slight shifting of the ship occurred, from the rocket's liftoff. Not too bad, but an annoyance. ---- *Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Etearna, United States Air Force **Commanding Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 01 - Bridge *November 11th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Jennifer glanced to one of the side-view visual panels, trying to ignore the knot in her stomach as she focused on her OCP. "Another battery out... About fourteen people out..." She leaned her elbow on a button-free part of her armrest, rubbing her face with her hand for a moment. At this point, the ship was constantly shaking and groaning with the force of gravity. Sjar turned to Jennifer. "Colonel Etearna, I can't promise we'll be able to exit if this goes on much further. I suggest a slingshot." Jennifer's mouth quirked to one side. "Hold on, Lieutenant." She clapped on her radio. =^=Dracar, what're the chances we'll make a successful firing pass on that final Ha'tak with another slingshot orbit?=^= ---- *Major Michael Kabolansjo, United States Air Force **Chief Medical Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 03 - Medical Bay *November 11th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 =^="Kobey to Etearna, sir, what ever you're doing, stop doing it! We're carting in more wounded than we can handle! I'm the only doctor on this boat!"=^= Kobey clicked his radio off and attended to triage. "That burn victim, put him to the right. The lieutenant with the broken arm goes all the way to the right. Move her to the beginning of the line!" Kobey sped forward whilst his nurse got a gown ready. 'Oh great, she actually has a punctured lung.'. he thought to himself. He attended to the wound as he constantly cursed on this situation. ---- *Major Jason Dracar, British Special Air Service **Executive Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 17 - Combat Intelligence Center *November 12th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Another hit impacted the shield. Another followed it quickly enough, before a spot failure allowed a third hit to penetrate the shield and impact the ship itself. Enough to throw the ship a tiny bit, and throw some of the people inside off their feet. One such example would be poor Major Jason Dracar, who would have the most unfortunate luck to be thrown head-first against a hatchway coming, and to be knocked momentarily unconscious from it. ---- *Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Etearna, United States Air Force **Commanding Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 01 - Bridge *November 12th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Dracar was not the only one. Slipping from her seat, the helmsman rammed her head against the floor. Standing, Jennifer cursed under her breath. "I'm taking the helm. Sjar, I want you to keep a tight hand on those diagnostics and inform me about anything critical." She jogged up to the pilot's seat, and slowly dragged Ralla out, and slipped her into the captain's chair. "And someone please call for a gurney?" She slipped herself into the pilot's chair as the ship shuddered and groaned. Slipping her headset on, she switched her channel to Jason's. =^=Major Dracar, what's your status?=^= After only moments of no response, Jennifer's hands were already on the main 'wheel' of the ship, more like two handles affixed to the dashboard. A shiver went up her spine as more hits slammed into the shield. =^=Major Dracar? Major!=^= She cursed under her breath, and switched again. =^=Kobey, I'm afraid you'll have some more and just have to wait.=^= Jennifer tilted the ship to the right, and to the left, trying to steer the ship in a concentrated orbit neither against nor towards the event horizon. ---- *Lieutenant Pamela Thomson, Royal Navy **Chief Engineer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Somewhere *November 12th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Pamela was still trying to have enough power to kept the engines going to stop them from going any closer to the black hole. That attempt to go to hyperspace had blown a number of panels and systems. She had been remaining her balance by holding onto the Asgard core. Only problem was that her radio had fallen and broken but she had more important things to do than fix it. Diverting power to keep systems going was proving evermore difficult. She knew the only chance on getting out the black hole's pull as to divert every bit of power to the engines. With the radio out she would need to think of a way of contacting the bridge. She decided that the best way was to send a message to the bridge through the computer to one of the stations on the bridge. She sent a message with a very brief description of her idea and hoped that someone was still on the bridge to get the message. She decided to get them five minutes before she would go through with the plan. ---- *Major Michael Kabolansjo, United States Air Force **Chief Medical Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 03 - Medical Bay *November 12th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Kobey finally stabilized a victim who came in with a throats laceration because a metal shard was launched from a bulkhead. ''Can someone please tell that Godforsaken woman we don't have to win this fight! he thought to himself as he swapped gowns again. He looked to the door where Wails attending to Major Dracar who just got carted in with the knock-outs. ---- *Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Etearna, United States Air Force **Commanding Officer, UNV Nexura **UNV Nexura / Deck 01 - Bridge *November 14th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 Jennifer groaned outwardly. The ship was groaning harder as they neared the event horizon. "Commander," Isabelle Sjar spoke, turning to her. "Lieutenant Thomson wants us to divert all power to engines for an extra boost." Jennifer shook her head, trying to concentrate. It took her a moment to ingest all the information. "Tell her that the shielding will have to stay on. Even though we're not at the event horizon, the distance we are from the gravity well is close enough to tear us apart. Other than that, she has free reign." Jennifer inwardly hoped for the best, breathing a godless prayer devoid of much but her own hope. The Ha'tak outside was struggling on its own, having been caught up by the event horizon. Pieces of it began to fall apart and disintegrate as it got farther into the center. =^=Thomson,=^= Jennifer spoke on her own channel. =^=Give me the go, I'm at the helm.=^= "Let me know when FTL is available, as well!" Jennifer called, turning her attention to keeping the ship balanced between the E.H. and deep space. ---- *Major Edward Hamilton, United States Air Force **Combat Air Group Commanding Officer, UNV Nexura **Outer Space *November 20th, 2009 **Around October 1st, 2022 =^= This is Major Edward Hamilton of the United States Air Force to the UNV Nexura. We have the first fighters to be assigned to your ship. Hamilton out.=^= Edward throttled down, opening the variable-geometry wings of his aircraft and glanced out the starboard side of his cockpit, watching as the other three Valkyries followed suit. The last fighter was an F-302F Super Raven II, a twin seater. "Major! Eight o' clock low! I think that's the Nexura!" Edward craned his neck to see, and there the ship was - but it didn't look like it was ready to receive any fighters. Hamilton banked hard to the left, cautiously sweeping the area with his sensors, and found that the ship was under, and returning fire to several Ha'tak. "Switch on your HUDs, boys! looks like we're gonna get to shoot something!" He called, reaching down to arm the heavy railguns mounted under the belly of the Valkyrie. positioning his finger over the trigger of the joystick, he fired off two missiles, which slammed into the enemy ships. The other planes did the same, one of them accelerating and firing off a torrent of railgun and M61 Vulan cannon fire. The HUD flashed red as he caught radar lock onto another target, which was hit by another two missiles. Edward switched his guns to the four smaller calibre weapons and strafed the side of the ship, pulling up just enough. Anti aircraft fire from the Ha'tak and return fire from the Nexura knocked the five small fighters everywhere, and the F-302 almost crashed into another Valkyrie. =^= Nexura, this is Hamilton! What the hell is going on?! =^= A Hole in One Piece A Hole in One Piece